Abstract:
Generally, the nature of operating rooms is hectic and the staff has a high workload as
claimed. Due to this distraction, multitasking, and time pressure, staff who is handling the
surgical kit can wrongly arrange or count the surgical items such as swabs or sponges.
This could lead to serious problems such as unintended retention of foreign objects
(URFOs) in a patient’s body during surgery. To overcome these unwanted issues, we
have developed an IOT-based surgical box storage monitoring system. This device
consists of an ultrasonic sensor, Arduino, Wifi-NRF24L01, and the Blynk application.
When the items are arranged in the surgical box they will be counted using an ultrasonic
sensor and recorded to the system. After the surgery, the items that are rearranged in the
surgical box and disposed into the bin will be counted by referring to the initial data and
any error in the data will alert the healthcare personnel via an LCD and the application for
immediate action. This is a cost-effective solution that could potentially mitigate any risks
of unintended retention of foreign objects which could also improve the concentration
among surgeons and staff members when surgery is taking place.
